We’ve been at this a long time — since 1985, in fact — and in that time we’ve taken exactly one holiday. And as we all know, that’s not healthy: not for us as people, not for us as business people, and not for us as spouses.

So we decided last year to make sure that we took a holiday every year, by hook or by crook (last year’s was the first holiday Richard and I have taken since … aaaahhhh … 1982. Yikes.)

This year’s holiday was planned before the exuberance of last year’s had worn off, which is maybe a good thing, because if we’d left it till September and the market meltdown, we surely wouldn’t have gone ahead with it.

So we’ll be away from work from New Year’s till Monday 12 January. The store will be open, but the hours may be erratic — our staffers (as excellent as they are in many ways) are busy people who are making room in their schedules for this as a favour to us. So please be kind to them (we’d like them to come back to work for us again!)

And we are thankful for them, and for the generosity of spirit shown by our customers. May the spirit of the holidays make your time with family and friends the very best time of your year!